Huey P. Long work shifts into high gear

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneWorkers walk on the railroad portion of the Huey P. Long Bridge on Wednesday. The widening project is about to enter its third stage, which includes erecting the huge metal trusses that will support the new lanes.

Halfway through a seven-year, $1.2 billion project to widen the Huey P. Long Bridge, the span doesn't look all that different from when it opened in 1935.

Perhaps the biggest change is the five W-shaped support structures that jut out from the bulked-up concrete piers.

But much of the work since construction began in 2006 has been hidden from view as crews have spent month after month extending floor beams under the road surface and painstakingly replacing about 80,000 rivets.

However, the bridge's low-profile transformation is about to shift into an attention-grabbing phase.

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneWorkers assemble one of the supports of the Huey P. Long Bridge on Wednesday.

Starting Monday, a contractor will begin erecting the massive steel trusses to support the new road surface, which will more than double in width as a third lane and shoulders are added to both sides of the notoriously narrow bridge.

The current 35-foot-wide, single-barrel truss above the railroad tracks running down the bridge's center will be expanded to a 135-foot-wide, triple-barrel superstructure.

"This is when people will really start to see the bridge being transformed," said Indira Parrales, a project spokeswoman. "It's going to be exciting."

It's also going to create some headaches for motorists for the next couple of years.

All four lanes will periodically be shut down for 15 minutes to an hour each day with little notice as crews install beams weighing up to 30 tons over the roadway.

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneStarting in May, the Mississippi River will have to be closed to marine traffic for up to 50 hours as construction on the new bridge lanes moves to a different phase.

The daily closures will be limited to non-peak hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but they will come with just 30 to 40 minutes of warning because the work is dependent on wind conditions and marine traffic, Parrales said.

She said bridge officials will keep motorists informed using 18 electronic message boards, Twitter updates at twitter.com/hueypbridge and a hotline -- 504.731.4200 -- with live updates during closures.

"People respond really well when they can talk to a live person who can give them the latest information," Parrales said. "They don't have to sit in their cars and wonder, 'What's going on?' "

It is expected to take two years to erect the four truss sections, which will use 17,500 tons of steel, nearly twice as much as the Eiffel Tower.

Crews will begin on the West Bank end of the bridge, using a "stick-built" method to assemble the truss beam by beam on a section that is partially over land.

Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneA worker moves his safey line while climbing up the Huey P. Long Bridge.

Starting in May, the contractor plans to use a much more dramatic construction method on the other three sections, which are over the Mississippi River.

The sides of the trusses -- more than 500 feet long and weighing up to 2,750 tons -- will be assembled on shore, transported to the bridge on barges and jacked up into place.

"When we do that, you're going to want to bring a chair and some food because it's going to be a sight to see," said Sean McInerney, an assistant project engineer with MTI, which has a $453 million contract to build the superstructure.

McInerney said the river will have to be closed to marine traffic for up to 50 hours, which he acknowledged will create hardships for shipping interests.

"It's like closing Interstate 10 in New Orleans for two days," he said. "It bogs everything down."

But he said the method will be safer and more efficient than having to close the river for shorter periods on a daily basis as would be required using a stick-built method.

Bridge Work

Bridge WorkVideo: a look at the $1.2 billion project to widen the Huey P. Long Bridge halfway through the seven-year project

Mike Neyman, a senior bridge inspector, watched last week as crews finished building four temporary 150-foot-tall towers in the river to support the first truss as it is built.

Standing on one of the massive W-supports that jut 50 feet from the side of the bridge and sit 150 feet above the water's surface, Neyman looked down at a barge carrying a 72-foot-long truss beam weighing 67,000 pounds.

"When they say it's going to be stick-built, you've got to remember they're using really big sticks," he said. "It's like a giant version of the erector set I had as a kid."

High up on the bridge's gray steel superstructure, workers on a plywood platform resembling the crow's nest of a ship bolted on gusset plates that will be used to connect the new truss to the old one.

Moving slowly, the men wore harnesses with cables attached to the bridge to prevent a fall as cars whizzed by 50 feet below.

The bridge widening, one of the largest infrastructure projects in state history, began in April 2006 and is expected to be completed in 2013.

The project will expand both sides of the bridge from two 9-foot lanes with no shoulders to three 11-foot lanes with a 2-foot inside shoulder and an 8-foot outside shoulder. The overall width of the paved surface will more than double, from 18 feet to 43 feet on each side.

The project is designed to improve safety on what has long been a white-knuckle trip over the Mississippi and increase access to Jefferson Parish's last sizable tracts of undeveloped land in the Waggaman-Avondale-Bridge City area.

Parrales said most motorists seem to keep those future benefits in mind as they deal with the daily inconvenience of lane closures on the bridge.

"Even when people are upset, I've never had anyone say, 'I wish you weren't doing this,' " she said. "Seeing the trusses being built should help that even more. People will be able to see the progress for themselves."

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or at 504.826.3785.